House sitter experiences?

[Scuba]

DH & I are recently ER'd and love to travel. Has anyone ever done house sitting as a way to spend time in desired travel destinations less expensively? How did it work out for you? And if you've used house sitters, what was your experience? Would welcome any thoughts on this.

 

[Scrapr]

Well we had a dog sitter. Does that count? We traveled to Sweden to pick up our new Volvo. Our 2 Golden's did not get to go. So a coworker of some neighbors wanted to try it. We even did a trial run for a weekend.

Let's just say things didn't go well. First we are 9 time zones away and we start getting complaints from neighbors. Didn't pick up the poop, etc. Then we get back and the older geriatric dog has got sores on her mouth. Vet care was taken care of before we left. The dog sitter did not take her in to be seen. Which meant a month of extra vet care and $$$$. Then we found out why our "big boned" dog looked extra fluffy. He gained 5 pounds! The sitter went through 3 months of treats in 3 weeks

I don't know how we are going to do it next time

Maybe it would be better for you

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Scuba where u live? ill house sit for you. Ill water your plants, ill walk your dog. Ill remove all the cylinders to your locks and make extra keys. I dont like when the meter reader comes into my home.. Let alone some one walking around in their boxers in my house. Its a no go in the BCG chateau.

 

[Koolau]

We offered our condo to the son of friends. We assumed it would be just a couple in their 40s. We didn't realize they were bringing their 4 kids to our 2/2 condo. I'm sure they had kids sleeping in the LR and the hall. We found underwear and personal belongings scattered throughout the place upon our return. No big deal, but we felt we needed to return stuff to them.

Then they had an accident in our car - not their fault, but they had 6 people in a car with 5 seat belts. The police did not ticket them, but our insurance co. would not have been pleased had they gotten wind of it - fortunately the other driver paid. We won't invite them back.

Another couple stayed and completely rearranged our furniture! I couldn't believe it. What is it they say? No good deed goes unpunished. YMMV

 

[Scuba]

Yikes! We have never allowed anyone, even good friends, to stay in our place when we travel. We have expensive furniture and recently did a major remodel so most of it is relatively new. Based on these posts, I think we will stay with our historical practice. We live in a condo in So CA and our HOA is watchful and strict about rule enforcement which is another reason we're better off not doing this.

However, I wonder about offering our services for house sitting for others. Might be a cost-effective way to travel more than our budget would otherwise support. Has anyone done this?

 

[braumeister]

You might look at housecarers.com for an example. That has been mentioned before here and I think at least a couple of members have used it, either as a service or as a way to explore a new area on the cheap.

 

[folivier]

Never had a house sitter but thought about it a few times. Did have a niece come by every week to dust, flush toilets, water plants, etc. for a 3 month trip. Worked out ok. There are people who do that Here is one site: https://www.housesittersamerica.com
Another option I've heard about is if there is a local college to find a person working on an advanced degree.

 

[savory]

We have done both fairly successfully. It seemed all of the homeowner where we stayed appreciated the way we took care of their house/pets. Some were friends, some strangers. The people we last served were very happy. Having some experience in the cleaning business, I was able to remove some stains that they thought were permanent. And, the dog seemed happy.

We also had people stay at our house. It worked out very well except once when it was simply OK.

If 'stuff' is very important to you and you cannot imagine something happening under your watch, perhaps a house sitter is not for you. It is not that people are not taking care but perhaps expectations are not aligned. If something breaks or gets scratched, the owner may feel that this 20 year item was always maintained and now the HS ruined it, for example.

Obviously, there are people who simply should not be employed as a HS but unfortunately, you may not know that until too late. A problem with any employee.

We actually might be looking for a HS job starting in September. Our rental house was sold and we are not sure where we want to end up. If anyone is looking for a reliable couple to house sit, send me a message. We are now on the east coast but maybe willing to go anywhere.

 

[euro]

You might look at housecarers.com for an example. That has been mentioned before here and I think at least a couple of members have used it, either as a service or as a way to explore a new area on the cheap.

Both of our grown kids live nearby, so usually, we can rely on one of them to come in and water the plants/feed the pets. If that were NOT the case, I'd consider hiring a company that is insured/bonded and does careful vetting of their staff. I wouldn't trust "kids of friends, parents of neighbors, etc).
We had a neighbor kid once who was supposed to access our garage each day to check on/ feed the cats. No access to the house needed. Sure enough, he ended up trying to enter the house through the garage (just to snoop, of course), set off the remote/monitored alarm, and then took off when he realized what he had done. Naturally, the police was dispatched and assumed a burglar might still be inside ( called for reinforcements and eventually entered and searched the house). Let's say, they don't like those false alarms much...
So, no more neighbor's kids for us anymore

 

[audreyh1]

We're going to housesit an apartment in Amsterdam this summer. They are friends of my brother and SIL and will be on summer vacation including visiting the States. The main thing is they need someone around to take care of their cat. Never done this before, so it will be a new experience. We're experienced with cats, but my SIL tells me this cat hides all the time.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

We have had good and BAD house/pet sitters. The first one we used was "highly recommended" and through an agency. Although she *knew* we had cameras, she STILL didn't hold up her end of the deal (she was supposed to spend 30-45 minutes 2x a day sitting/playing with the animals. Instead, she turned off the alarm and then immediately left only to return about an hour later to reset the alarm). When we told the agency about this, they told me I was a liar...but they quickly changed the tune when I sent them the video evidence. She was terminated and I haven't seen her lurking on the internet anymore.

Subsequent to that dilemma, we used a college-age girl who a good friend used to baby sit. We told her about the last issue and that we WOULD be watching via cameras...she had no issues with it, and she was GREAT. We have used her several times and when she wasn't available, she had a friend work in her place.

Long story short, trust but VERIFY! I would HIGHLY recommend having a camera(s) and let them know that they will be watched. If they balk at that idea, then perhaps they aren't a good match. And yeah, make sure that it's legal in your jurisdiction...if they stay the night, laws might preclude you recording them with or without their knowledge.

 

[48Fire]

We used a trusted friend, 20 years old to watch our dog and house for a week. When we returned, one of the neighbors asked if we had a graduation party, since there were cars lining both sides of the street for a block or more. We found a burned counter top from a curling iron in the master bedroom, bottle caps in the garbage disposal and couch, and orange juice stains probably from mixed drinks. When my wife asked her about it, she denied, denied, denied, and was very upset. We're on good terms now, 15 years later, but it was pretty amazing.

Ironically, we just had a dog/house sitter this week for two nights. And loaned our house to friends with 3 young kids for two nights. Tomorrow we return, hope there is little damage, but I have learned to expect it.

On the other hand, I have considered house sitting, but have not done it yet. Sounds interesting and may save some money, but I am guessing some PITA items as well. At this point, money is not a big motivator for me.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Yikes! We have never allowed anyone, even good friends, to stay in our place when we travel. We have expensive furniture and recently did a major remodel so most of it is relatively new. Based on these posts, I think we will stay with our historical practice. We live in a condo in So CA and our HOA is watchful and strict about rule enforcement which is another reason we're better off not doing this.

However, I wonder about offering our services for house sitting for others. Might be a cost-effective way to travel more than our budget would otherwise support. Has anyone done this?

Hahahah, i promise to not walk around in my boxers if i house sit for you

 

[bearkeley]

We have been able to travel for 5 months last year and the one prior and spent a total of 7 months in Australia because of housesitting. It's not for everyone, and it is very competitive, but as long as you promise not to compete with us too much, we would highly recommend that you look into it.

We love having pets around but when our 13 and 16 year old dogs passed, we decided that having pets and a travel lifestyle just don't go well together. So, pet sitting allows us to travel and have animals in our lives.

 

[sengsational]

I looked into "housesitter" or one of those sites a while ago. Not to put my house in, but to find a house where they needed someone to take care of pets, plants, and sometimes livestock!

My conclusion was that it might be a challenge to get started, so you'd probably need to start close to home, where you could go and "interview" and see if you hit it off with the animals. After you get a few of those local, less interesting places under your belt, and you have built a reputation, then maybe you could get some place more interesting. You'd need to be flexible with dates, for sure, because you need to go on vacation the exact same span as whoever is hiring you. And based on the stuff I read, taking care of some of these places is no walk in the park...some of them expect many hours of labor per day, not just walking and feeding the dog, but mowing, landscaping, etc.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

We offered our condo to the son of friends. We assumed it would be just a couple in their 40s. We didn't realize they were bringing their 4 kids to our 2/2 condo. I'm sure they had kids sleeping in the LR and the hall. We found underwear and personal belongings scattered throughout the place upon our return. No big deal, but we felt we needed to return stuff to them.

Then they had an accident in our car - not their fault, but they had 6 people in a car with 5 seat belts. The police did not ticket them, but our insurance co. would not have been pleased had they gotten wind of it - fortunately the other driver paid. We won't invite them back.

Another couple stayed and completely rearranged our furniture! I couldn't believe it. What is it they say? No good deed goes unpunished. YMMV

HAHAHAH, Was the underwear you found clean? Did you like the rearranged furniture, or did you prefer your original positioning?? This is why this is all a no go at my humble abode. I enjoyed your post, i laughed the whole time i read it.

 

[kcowan]

We have done synchronous home swaps, asynchronous swaps, had pet sitters stay for a month and sublet our place for 5 months. Aside from the mystery of discovering where things have been hidden, it has been very good. The swaps involved looking after each other's cats.

The last one resulted in 2 Samsung Smart remotes going missing. They got replaced for $13 by direct shipment from China. But sometimes we find new items added so I guess it averages out.

 

[Ally]

We first had a young college student daughter of a friend stay, but we came home to dog poop all over inside our house!

Next we tried three different sitters through Rover, all highly recommended. The first one texted me the second (out of ten) day and said she suspected that we had a gas leak in our house. She felt like she was getting sick. She went to the doctor and the doctor said she did not have gas poisoning. She called the gas company and they said we did not have a leak. Nevertheless, she insisted on calling the company and getting a replacement person. I was uneasy having someone take over who we had not met, but we agreed. This person came over three times a day and let our dogs out and fed them, however, she never spent the night. This was according to my neighbors who are retired and watched our house.

The third person that we tried did the same thing. We paid her to stay at the house and feed our dogs and take care of things. However, she also came two to three times a day but never spent any time at our house, including at night. I talked to the company three times, but since I had no proof, they wouldn't do anything.

Now we take our dogs to a kennel and have a neighbor check our cats once a day. It costs more, but I don't worry so much.

 

[youbet]

make sure that it's legal in your jurisdiction...if they stay the night, laws might preclude you recording them with or without their knowledge.

I'm not a legal expert, but I'm guessing if you hired a stay-in housesitter and placed cameras where they would likely be changing clothes, etc., and they discovered it, you might be doing a little time.........

 

[Kimo]

We offered our condo to the son of friends. We assumed it would be just a couple in their 40s. We didn't realize they were bringing their 4 kids to our 2/2 condo. I'm sure they had kids sleeping in the LR and the hall. We found underwear and personal belongings scattered throughout the place upon our return. No big deal, but we felt we needed to return stuff to them.

Then they had an accident in our car - not their fault, but they had 6 people in a car with 5 seat belts. The police did not ticket them, but our insurance co. would not have been pleased had they gotten wind of it - fortunately the other driver paid. We won't invite them back.

Another couple stayed and completely rearranged our furniture! I couldn't believe it. What is it they say? No good deed goes unpunished. YMMV

Koolau, I have tried twice with almost the same results and I thought it was just because You and I live in Hawaii but as I read these posts I see it happens everywhere. By the way, both time, my house ended up with a load of tourists that were friends of the people I had watching the house....

 

[Koolau]

HAHAHAH, Was the underwear you found clean? Did you like the rearranged furniture, or did you prefer your original positioning?? This is why this is all a no go at my humble abode. I enjoyed your post, i laughed the whole time i read it.

IIRC there were two different sized bras under one bed (didn't try to determine if clean!) There was a mixture of men's/women's unmentionables in the dryer so I'd like to think they were clean!!

The new furniture arrangement didn't work for us, but the worst of it was that we had difficulty moving everything back as DW and I both had back issues at the time.

As much as anything, it just seemed so "inappropriate" to rearrange someone else's furniture. Of course, I guess it's our fault since we let them stay there. Probably won't make that mistake again! YMMV

 

[Rico]

You might look at housecarers.com for an example. That has been mentioned before here and I think at least a couple of members have used it, either as a service or as a way to explore a new area on the cheap.

Braumeister, thank you. I sincerely mean that.

Long story short, I'm sitting in an Airbnb in a lovely little town on the Swiss/German border as I write this. There's a light dusting of snow on the rooftops of the pretty Bavarian-style houses nearby. I'm in the middle of a 3-month tour of Europe combining Housecarer.com pet/house sitting assignments sprinkled with Airbnb stays to fill in the logistical travel gaps.

I pet sat for a lady in the south of France for 3 weeks this past December while she spent holiday time with family in the UK. Then I Airbnb'd the Costa Brava area of the Mediterranean for 2 weeks. Stunning natural beauty everywhere! Then I flew to Zurich yesterday where I'll soon begin another 2-week pet sit at a private residence on the Swiss/German border. Then I'll Airbnb it while sightseeing in Zurich for a few days. Then I fly to Ireland for another 2-week pet sit near Cork in the south. Then I'll Airbnb it around Ireland for more sightseeing before returning home to the US in mid-March. Three plus months in Europe. I never dreamed this would have happened in my world. I am so humbled to have this opportunity.

As I travel and chat with people about what I'm doing, the fact that it is 100% free of charge to the pet/home owner, and that I cover all costs of my transportation to/from their location in exchange for staying in their home/caring for their pets, the list of potential future stays is growing exponentially - simply through word-of-mouth.

How culturally enriching and rewarding this experience has been for me. Truly a life-changing experience which I hope continues as long as possible.

So thank you Braumeister - I owe it all to you. I really mean that!

 

[Scuba]

Braumeister, thank you. I sincerely mean that.

Long story short, I'm sitting in an Airbnb in a lovely little town on the Swiss/German border as I write this. There's a light dusting of snow on the rooftops of the pretty Bavarian-style houses nearby. I'm in the middle of a 3-month tour of Europe combining Housecarer.com pet/house sitting assignments sprinkled with Airbnb stays to fill in the logistical travel gaps.

I pet sat for a lady in the south of France for 3 weeks this past December while she spent holiday time with family in the UK. Then I Airbnb'd the Costa Brava area of the Mediterranean for 2 weeks. Stunning natural beauty everywhere! Then I flew to Zurich yesterday where I'll soon begin another 2-week pet sit at a private residence on the Swiss/German border. Then I'll Airbnb it while sightseeing in Zurich for a few days. Then I fly to Ireland for another 2-week pet sit near Cork in the south. Then I'll Airbnb it around Ireland for more sightseeing before returning home to the US in mid-March. Three plus months in Europe. I never dreamed this would have happened in my world. I am so humbled to have this opportunity.

As I travel and chat with people about what I'm doing, the fact that it is 100% free of charge to the pet/home owner, and that I cover all costs of my transportation to/from their location in exchange for staying in their home/caring for their pets, the list of potential future stays is growing exponentially - simply through word-of-mouth.

How culturally enriching and rewarding this experience has been for me. Truly a life-changing experience which I hope continues as long as possible.

So thank you Braumeister - I owe it all to you. I really mean that!

This is really cool and something we’d like to consider once our pet is gone.

 

[gcgang]

We've had both great and awful experiences with people sitting one of our places while we're at the other.

The best, retired couple, friends of a neighbor. Fixed a whole bunch of stuff, and left a list of all that and other suggestions. Very nice.

The worst, won't go into it.

Now that our daughter is graduating high school, we plan to travel more. Thinking of selling the Maui house cuz of all the upkeep, either renting or buying a condo, unless we could find a reliable sitter. I'd love to get a "job" living 8-10 months sitting some of the mega-mansions out here that are inhabited by the owner about 2 months of the year.

Btw, should sitters be paid or should they be paying you for rent/utilities?

 

[Nick12]

There is a couple that lives in NYC and another couple that live by the beaches south of LA. They both condo sit for each other. From Christmas to New Years Day the NYC couple condo sits in LA and the LA couple condo sits in NYC. Not a bad deal.